Succession planning: The future starts now

Here's a question: Why do we intentionally avoid doing things that we know are good for us?

Exercise more. Eat less (or at least less crap). Read a book. Save your money. Volunteer. Stay in touch. We keep telling ourselves we should do these things, but then we go back to work and get caught up in the day-to-day stuff that keeps us from making meaningful changes. How do we break that cycle?

Now, with "create a succession plan" added to the list, answering that question could be a matter of life or death for some CPA firms.

A new survey from the AICPA's Private Companies Pracitce Section reveals that 67 percent of multiple-owner firms and more than 50 percent of sole practitioners "believe succession planning would be a significant issue for them in the near future." However, only 35 percent of multi-owner firms and 9 percent of sole practitioners say they have a written succession plan in place. Twenty-seven percent of multi-owner firms are not training anyone to take the reins, according to the survey, and 29 percent of sole practitioners say they have no one to develop.

There's more to the survey than numbers, though. It also offers detailed best practices for creating a succession plan, fixing retirement issues and developing future leaders. Read the survey in its entirety.

As the issue has grown in importance, other resources are surfacing that can help firms and sole practitioners address their succession planning needs.

The latest comes from the AICPA, which has created a Succession Planning Resource Center "to help small and medium-size firms contend with one of the most critical issues affecting their future." Access to the center is free to PCPS members.

Most recently, Mark Koziel, the AICPA’s senior technical manager in charge of practice management, discussed succession planning in depth at the MACPA's first-ever Maryland Business and Accounting Expo. His session included strategies for internal and external succession and ways to identify and develop new partners. Download materials from Koziel's session here.

There are also countless articles on the subject. Here are some of our favorites:

• "Intelligent succession," from Boomer Consulting
• "Succession planning dos and don'ts," from the Journal of Accountancy
• "Succession planning: Internal and external," from Accounting Transition Advisors, LLC
• "Succession planning: A vital issue for CPA firms," from the AICPA
• "Succession planning: Grooming future leaders," from the AICPA

Do you have a succession plan in place? What's the best piece of succession advice you've received?